The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
To research and develop various strains, hybrids, genotypes of various plants (e.g., cotton, soy, corn, etc.), seed producers, plant, grow, and analyze many different varieties of seed. Typically for such research, a single field is subdivided into multiple research, or test plots, each containing plants with certain germplasm-treatment combinations. Each test plot typically comprises one or more rows of plants comprising from about five to about twenty plants in each row. Mobile sprayers available today are structured and operable to spray a chemical on large crops growing on several acres. However, these systems are not efficient when it comes to spraying different chemicals on several smaller plots in a field (i.e., several research test plots). If a researcher desires to spray two hundred test plots each comprising two rows of twenty plants, and spray those plots with several different chemical formulations, the efficiency of the commercial system is reduced dramatically. For example, if a researcher desires to spray each of several test plots with a different treatment solution, when changing from one chemical to another, the lines carrying the chemical from the chemical containers to the spray head mixing units must be flushed each time the chemical is changed, thereby wasting the flushed chemicals. This is typically done by flushing the lines with a carrier/dilution solution (e.g., water) and dumping the flushed solution on the ground.
Most known mobile sprayers have large holding tanks (e.g., 500 gallon tanks) permanently mounted in the rear of the sprayer. Typically, one tank holds a carrier/dilution solution (e.g., water) and another tank holds one chemical to be sprayed. These tanks feed metering pumps and at least one carrier pump that move the carrier/dilution solution and chemicals from the holding tanks, through approximately 36 feet of tubing/hose, to one or more mixing unit located on or near the spraying boom mounted on the front of the unit. The metering pumps control the amount of chemicals mixed with carrier/dilution solution to produce a treatment solution having the correct mixture to be sprayed on the respective crop. The tubing/hose between the metering pumps and the mixing unit(s) (e.g., approximately 36 feet of tubing/hose) are charged with (i.e., hold) a significant amount of chemical (e.g., 30-40 ounces), and at least that volume of chemical must be flushed (and typically is not recovered) from those lines whenever a plant requires a different chemical treatment. Hence, when spraying a large number of research test plots, with many different chemicals, flushing of the tubing/hose will occur many times. Therefore, when using known spraying systems to treat such a large number of research test plots, the volume and cost of the flushed and wasted solution quickly add up.